Helmet

ABSTRACT

A helmet includes a shell, a base coating layer entirely covering an outer surface of the shell, and a decorative layer entirely and thermally bonded to an entire outer surface of the base coating layer. The decorative layer includes an adhesive layer, a reflective layer that is bonded to the adhesive layer and that has a plurality of reflective particles, and a patterned layer that is printed on the adhesive layer. A method of forming the helmet is also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to Taiwanese Application No. 097223666,filed Dec. 30, 2008, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a helmet, more particularly to a helmetcapable of reflecting light.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional light reflective sticker that is flat and that has alarge surface area is incapable of being tightly and entirely attachedto a helmet that has a nearly spherical shape. A helmet that has aplurality of conventional small light reflective stickers attachedthereon is unable to efficiently reflect light from a distant vehicle,thereby being incapable of warning a driver of the distant vehicle.Furthermore, the two types of the aforementioned light reflectivestickers may lose stickiness thereof due to long-term exposure to sunand rain, and may be hence detached from helmets.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a helmet that canovercome the aforesaid drawbacks of the prior art.

According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a helmetthat includes a shell, a base coating layer entirely covering an outersurface of the shell, and a decorative layer entirely and thermallybonded to an entire outer surface of the base coating layer. Thedecorative layer includes an adhesive layer, a patterned layer that isprinted on the adhesive layer, and a reflective layer that has aplurality of reflective particles bonded to the adhesive layer.

According to another aspect of this invention, there is provided ahelmet that includes a shell, a base coating layer coated on an entireouter surface of the shell, and a decorative layer bonded to an entireouter surface of the base coating layer. The decorative layer includes apatterned layer, an adhesive layer, and a reflective layer. The helmetis made by a process which includes coating the base coating layer onthe entire outer surface of the shell, forming the decorative layer on arelease substrate, disposing the release substrate together with thedecorative layer on the base coating layer to cover entirely the basecoating layer, and thermal bonding the decorative layer to the basecoating layer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent in the following detailed description of the preferredembodiment of this invention, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of a helmetaccording to this invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary partly sectional view of the preferredembodiment; and

FIG. 3 is the same view as FIG. 2 but illustrating that a releasesubstrate is removed from a reflective layer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the preferred embodiment of a helmet 1according to the present invention includes a shell 2, a base coatinglayer 3 that entirely covers an outer surface of the shell 2, and adecorative layer 4 that is entirely and thermally bonded to an entireouter surface of the base coating layer 3. The decorative layer 4includes an adhesive layer 5, a reflective layer 6 that is bonded to theadhesive layer 5 and that includes a plurality of reflective particles61, and a patterned layer 40 that is printed on the adhesive layer 5.

The shell 2 may be made from a plastic material by virtue of injectionmolding or may be made from a resin-impregnated glass fiber. The basecoating layer 3 is disposed on an outer surface of the shell 2 through aspray coating process, thereby forming a base color of the shell 2. Whenthe base coating layer 3 is melted by means of heat, the decorativelayer 4 can be bonded to the base coating layer 3.

The patterned layer 40 may include a brand logo or other patterns, andcan be directly printed and mass produced. The adhesive layer 5 istransparent, and interconnects the patterned layer 40 and the reflectivelayer 6.

In this embodiment, the reflective particles 61 are tiny glass sands.Alternatively, the reflective particles 61 could be light reflectivestone crystal particles or metal particles in other embodiments. Thereflective particles 61 are uniformly disposed over the shell 2 suchthat light transmitted from any angle to the shell 2 can be efficientlyreflected by the reflective particles 61.

The helmet 1 further includes a release substrate 7 that covers thereflective layer 6. In this embodiment, the release substrate 7 is madefrom a transparent plastic material. It should be noted that the releasesubstrate 7 could be made from a paper material in other embodiments.The release substrate 7 is able to protect the reflective layer 6 (e.g.,to prevent the reflective layer 6 from being scratched) and is removablefrom the reflective layer 6. When the helmet 1 is required to be used,the release substrate 7 is preferably removed from the reflective layer6 so as to expose the same (see FIG. 3). Consequently, the reflectiveparticles 61 can reflect light more efficiently.

A method of making the helmet 1 is described as follows. After the shell2 is formed, a coating is sprayed on the entire outer surface of theshell 2 to form the base coating layer 3. The reflective particles 61are sprayed onto one surface of the release substrate 7, thereby formingthe reflective layer 6. An adhesive is sprayed on the reflective layer 6so as to form the adhesive layer 5. The patterned layer 40 is printed onone surface of the adhesive layer 5 opposite to the reflective layer 6.The decorative layer 4 is thus formed.

Subsequently, the decorative layer 4 is disposed on the base coatinglayer 3 with the patterned layer 40 being in contact with the outersurface of the base coating layer 3. The decorative layer 4 is thentransfer printed onto the outer surface of the base coating layer 3 byvirtue of a thermal bonding process using pneumatic pressure orhydraulic pressure. The decorative layer 4 is therefore tightly andentirely bonded to the shell 2. During thermal bonding, the base coatinglayer 3 is melted, and is bonded to the decorative layer 4.

By dint of pneumatic pressure or hydraulic pressure, the decorativelayer 4 can be tightly and entirely attached to the shell 2 in anyshape. The decorative layer 4 thermal bonded to the base coating layer 3can be prevented from being separated from the shell 2. Accordingly, thereflective layer 6 can also be prevented from being released from theshell 2.

While the present invention has been described in connection with whatis considered the most practical and preferred embodiment, it isunderstood that this invention is not limited to the disclosedembodiment but is intended to cover various arrangements included withinthe spirit and scope of the broadest interpretation and equivalentarrangements.

1. A helmet comprising: a shell; a base coating layer entirely coveringan outer surface of said shell; and a decorative layer entirely andthermally bonded to an entire outer surface of said base coating layer,and including: an adhesive layer; a patterned layer printed on saidadhesive layer; and a reflective layer having a plurality of reflectiveparticles bonded to said adhesive layer.
 2. The helmet as claimed inclaim 1, further comprising a release substrate covering said reflectivelayer.
 3. The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said reflectiveparticles include glass sands.
 4. The helmet as claimed in claim 1,wherein said reflective particles include stone crystal particles. 5.The helmet as claimed in claim 1, wherein said reflective particlesinclude metal particles.
 6. A helmet comprising: a shell, a base coatinglayer coated on an entire outer surface of said shell, and a decorativelayer bonded to an entire outer surface of said base coating layer, saiddecorative layer including a patterned layer, an adhesive layer, and areflective layer, the helmet being made by a process which includes:coating said base coating layer on the entire outer surface of saidshell; forming said decorative layer on a release substrate; disposingsaid release substrate together with said decorative layer on said basecoating layer to cover entirely said base coating layer; and thermalbonding said decorative layer to said base coating layer.
 7. The helmetof claim 6, wherein said decorative layer is formed by: spraying saidreflective particles onto said release substrate to form said reflectivelayer; applying said adhesive layer to said reflective layer; andprinting said patterned layer on said adhesive layer.
 8. The helmet ofclaim 7, wherein said adhesive layer is applied by spraying.
 9. Thehelmet of claim 6, wherein said patterned layer is in contact with saidbase coating layer when said decorative layer is disposed on said basecoating layer.